EU referendum: Why Doncaster should vote Leave

Former mayor Peter Davies says voting to leave the EU will ease the strain on Doncaster communities caused by mass migration and give us back our freedom

The EU is the perfect embodiment of politics for the past 50 years: you vote for one thing and get another. I voted for Britain’s entry into the European common market in 1975 and regretted it almost immediately when it became clear that Heath and Wilson had been economical with the truth about what was really in store for this country.

Former Mayor of Doncaster, Peter DaviesFormer Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies
Former Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies
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The common market quickly mutated and, like all shady operators, re-launched itself under another name. The European Union is a mysterious organisation, undemocratic and run by unelected officials who make decisions in secret. There have been other organisations like this in Europe’s recent past. The Soviet Union had 15 unaccountable commissars while the EU has 28 unaccountable commissioners. There are as yet no prison camps in Europe but on past form the EU does not tolerate dissent.

And then there is the question of the history of the countries we are allowing to rule over us when we are invariably outvoted. In my lifetime Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal have all been fascist states: many eastern states were communist colonies and even France had a poor record of settled democracy before de Gaulle. Worse still there are signs of a return in many of these states to their extremist past which is entirely at odds with the democratic history of our islands. Apart from the Scandinavian countries the rest of the EU is a motley crew.

It is difficult to identify any membership benefits in this expensive club. Finding drawbacks however is a doddle. Instead of the freedoms accumulated since Magna Carta we have a mass of nitpicking regulations that make us poorer and less free. MEPs, mostly second-rate politicians, earn more in wages and allowances than the Prime Minister and remain completely unknown to the general public. The EU parliamentary circus, with all its hangers- on, continually flits from Brussels to Strasbourg, costing a fortune. In Britain we are prey to uncontrolled immigration which puts increasing strain on public services already at crisis point.

In Hexthorpe, Hyde Park, Mexborough and elsewhere in Doncaster, this ill-conceived open door policy has reduced house prices, changed the familiar local landscape for the worse and the newcomers often make no attempt to adopt English culture or integrate with the indigenous population. Tensions are running high.

Former Mayor of Doncaster, Peter DaviesFormer Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies
Former Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies
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Our fishing industry has been destroyed by the EU and wealthy farmers are paid huge sums to literally grow nothing, while smaller operators are forced out of business. If we were involved in another war we would struggle to feed ourselves. We have betrayed the sacrifice of millions who died in two world wars to protect Britain from European domination. We have lost the ability to govern ourselves - an unthinkable scenario for those involved.

Like Frankenstein’s monster the EU is a hastily sewn together creation, a lumbering beast of ill-fitting parts that has careered dangerously out of control. Squander this vital chance to escape the EU straitjacket and Britain’s days as an independent nation are numbered.